Radio communication device,parent communication device, parent-child communication device and radio communication system

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a slave communication device which received control delegation from a master communication device and performs communication with an originating telephone apparatus through a host station based on a call originated from that originating telephone apparatus, and has a master communication device  1  having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station  3  and one or more slave communication devices  2  receiving control delegation from the master communication device  1  to perform communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device  1 . The slave communication device  2  comprises storage means for storing the master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device  1 , wireless communication means for performing communication using the wireless telephone line for the master communication device  1  through the host station  3 , pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal reception means.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to a wireless communication device,a master communication device, a master/slave communication device, anda wireless communication system, and more specifically, to a wirelesscommunication device, a master communication device, a master/slavecommunication device, and a wireless communication system in which,after control is delegated to one or more slave communication devicesfrom a master communication device, any of the slave communicationdevices is specified by originating from an unspecified originatingtelephone apparatus to perform communication between that slavecommunication device and the originating telephone apparatus through ahost station.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] The development of fixed telephones, mobile communicationtelephones and the like has been remarkable, and it is expected that, inthe near future, communication functions using fixed telephone lines ormobile communication telephone lines are added to a considerable numberof electronic apparatuses (for example, television sets, various kindsof cameras and the like) . Here, when a case is assumed where thecommunication functions are added to various kinds of electronicapparatuses, if different telephone lines are set for respective ones ofthe electronic apparatuses, various problems arise such as unregulatedcreation of IDs such as telephone numbers managed by users and hoststations, and bloating of base rates of telephone lines borne by users.It is thus necessary to construct a system in which a plurality ofelectronic apparatuses can share a common telephone line.

[0003] Also, in IMT-2000 which is a next-generation mobile communicationsystem, it is expected that a function referred to as so-calledmulticall, that is, a function allowing a plurality of mobilecommunication devices to simultaneously perform communication over asingle mobile communication telephone line in a range of communicationspeeds provided for that telephone line is added. In this case, a systemwhich avoids the aforementioned problems such as the unregulatedcreation of IDs is also needed.

[0004] Specifically, in a mobile communication system, seeing thatfrequency bands allocated to mobile communication are finite, telephonenumber resources allocated to individual mobile communication devicesare also finite, and if unique IDs are allocated to respectiveelectronic apparatuses, it is expected that the telephone numberresources are readily exhausted while unutilized telephone numbers aresuddenly increased. Thus, in a next-generation mobile communicationsystem, it is inevitable that telephone numbers are allocated withreluctance to individual mobile communication devices, which may becomea factor in increasing a base rate for a single ID.

[0005] Conventionally, to use a telephone line common to a plurality ofelectronic apparatuses, in the case of a fixed telephone line, a linesuch as an ISDN line through which a plurality of communicationprocessing can be simultaneously processed is installed to construct alocal area network (LAN), and a personal computer, a facsimile apparatusand the like having communication functions are connected to the LAN,thereby avoiding the aforementioned problems, for example.

[0006] When a telephone line common to a plurality of electronicapparatuses is intended to be used and when each electronic apparatusdoes not change its location, the construction of a LAN as mentionedabove can deal with the case. However, when that electronic apparatus isa portable telephone, a digital camera, a video camera, or anothermobile communication device having portability and premised on movement,or when it is installed in a position where the construction of a LAN isrelatively difficult even when its location is not changed, it isdifficult to deal with the case with a LAN.

[0007] In addition, in recent years, data transmission/reception throughradio signals among a plurality of electronic apparatuses with Bluetooth(see Nikkei Electronics Jan. 17, 2000, pp.37-44) or the like has beenproposed. In this case, however, there is also a problem of atransmission/reception range of radio waves with Bluetooth being limitedto within a short range. Furthermore, when a large amount of data istransmitted and received over a mobile communication telephone line, anelectronic apparatus such as a portable telephone performingcommunication with a host station through radio waves over the mobilecommunication telephone line also performs processing of transmittingdata on radio waves to another electronic apparatus through theBluetooth, so that a problem of power consumption may arise in thatportable telephone or the like.

[0008] To address such problems, the present applicant has alreadyproposed “Control Delegation System for Telephone Line” (patentapplication 2000-122791). The control delegation system uses a mastercommunication device having a master terminal ID such as a uniquetelephone number for utilizing a telephone line provided by a hoststation and one or more slave communication devices for which slaveterminal IDs created on the basis of the master terminal ID andrecognizable by the host station (host computer) are set and which usethose slave terminal ID to utilize the telephone line for the mastercommunication device.

[0009] The control delegation system is a new system totally differentfrom a conventional extension telephone in which a base unit and one ormore handsets are used and any one of them utilizes the same telephoneline, in that the slave communication devices utilize the telephone lineusing the slave terminal IDs created on the basis of the master terminalID, that the host computer which received the slave terminal ID performsauthentication of the correspondence relationship between that slaveterminal ID and the master terminal ID or the like, that the slavecommunication device can perform originating (originate a call) byitself using the telephone line for the master communication device evenwhen it becomes distant from the master communication device, that therespective terminals can simultaneously perform communication within arange of communication speeds previously allocated by the host computerof the master communication device (applicable to multicall), that it ispossible to specify contents of control delegated by the mastercommunication device to the slave communication device (for example, thecommunication speed to be used, dedicated to transmission, dedicated toreception, or the like), and the like.

[0010] According to the control delegation system, since communicationfunctions for using the telephone line based on the ID of the masterterminal are added to the plurality of slave communication devices and astate is established in which control for using the telephone line isdelegated to the plurality of slave communication devices by acommunication means of the master communication device, it is possibleto perform processing such as substitute execution of communication,which should be essentially performed by the master communicationdevice, by the slave communication device.

[0011] In the control delegation system, for an originating function(originating a call) of the communication functions of the slavecommunication device to which control has been delegated, each slavecommunication device uses a slave terminal ID created by, for example,adding a branch number to the telephone number of the mastercommunication device to establish communication within the range of thecommunication speeds of the master communication device, so that theplurality of slave communication devices can perform originatingrespectively while using the common telephone line to solve theaforementioned problems.

[0012] Specifically, a slave communication device which does not have aunique ID (telephone number or the like) performs originating by using aslave terminal ID (for example, “090-1234-5678-01”) created on the basisof the master terminal ID (for example, “090-1234-5678”) of the mastercommunication device to allow various communications to be performedthrough the host station. In other words, each slave communicationdevice for which control delegation has been completed and a slaveterminal ID has been set can directly perform various communicationsthrough the host station, thereby eliminating the need for theintervention of the master communication device and the need that itshould be within a short distance from the master communication deviceand the other slave communication devices. Thus, according to thecontrol delegation system, the problem of the positional relationshipamong the electronic apparatuses is solved, and further, the problem ofpower consumption in the master communication device is also solved.

[0013] On the other hand, for a termination function of thecommunication functions of the slave communication device to whichcontrol has been delegated, for example, the slave terminal IDs and thecorrespondence relationship between those slave terminal IDs and themaster terminal ID are previously registered in the host station and atelephone or the like of an originating party specifies the ID of theslave communication device at the time of origination of a call to allowestablishment of bi-directional communication between the originatingparty and the slave communication device on the terminating partythrough the host station.

[0014] Incidentally, when a mobile communication telephone line withradio signals is used in the control delegation system, a problem asdescribed below is expected to arise when a larger number of slavecommunication devices have slave terminal IDs set therefor in connectionwith location registration performed on the host station side.

[0015] Specifically, there is a problem that, when a larger number ofslave communication devices receive control delegation from the mastercommunication device and have slave terminal IDs set therefor, a burdenof processing for the location registration is excessive on the hoststation side if respective users carrying respective communicationdevices move to positions distant from one another, causing thepossibility of failing to deal with such a case.

[0016] Typically, in the mobile communication system, the configurationof the host station is provided with a single central control stationhaving a host computer, and a plurality of base stations connected tothe central control station and performing transmission and reception ofradio signals (radio waves) for communication. The respective basestations monitor the positions of respective portable telephones presentwithin certain areas, respectively, to transmit position information ofthe respective portable telephones to the central control station whichperforms registration (area registration) based on the positioninformation.

[0017] Then, a typical portable telephone (including a PHS, a PDA or thelike) originates a weak radio wave (hereinafter referred to as “a radiosignal for location registration”) including an ID of that portabletelephone (telephone number information) receivable by a base station inan area where that portable telephone exists in order to performcommunication through any one of the respective base stations. Here,when an unspecified telephone (hereinafter referred to as “anoriginating telephone apparatus”) and a portable telephone make a call,the central control station performs control for connectingcommunication based on originating (origination of a call) from anytelephone through a base station in an area where that portabletelephone exists.

[0018] Thus, if the control delegation system presented earlier by thepresent applicant is applied to such a system for a mobile communicationtelephone line, when a number of slave communication devices to whichcontrol has been delegated originate radio signals for locationregistration simultaneously by using the slave terminal IDs differentfrom one another based on the master terminal ID from areas differentfrom one another, a burden of processing is excessive on the centralcontrol station side which controls the respective base stations,causing the possibility of failing to deal with such a case.

[0019] Such a problem can be addressed by each user carrying each slavecommunication device voluntarily turning off the main power supply ofthe communication device to normally prevent originating of the radiosignal for location registration and turning on the main power supplyonly when it is required. However, a problem concerning termination thenoccurs that each slave communication device cannot receive a calloriginated by the said originating telephone apparatus.

[0020] In addition, in the already proposed control delegation system,since the host station side must register the correspondencerelationship between the master terminal ID and the slave terminal IDsto perform the processing of authentication for communication performedby the slave communication devices, the processing is not completed onlyby the master communication device and the respective slavecommunication devices and the host station side needs to perform variousprocessing.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0021] It is an object of the present invention to provide a wirelesscommunication device as a slave communication device, a mastercommunication device, a master/slave communication device, and awireless communication system which allow a slave communication deviceto perform communication with an originating telephone apparatus througha host station based on a call originated from that originatingtelephone apparatus even when there are a number of slave communicationdevices which received control delegation from a master communicationdevice to have slave IDs set therefor and that slave communicationdevice moves to a position away from the master communication device orthe other slave communication devices.

[0022] A first configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is a wireless communication devicereceiving control delegation from a master communication device having aunique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone lineprovided by a host station to perform communication using the wirelesstelephone line for said master communication device, characterized bycomprising storage means for storing the master ID and a slave IDrecognizable by the master communication device, wireless communicationmeans for performing communication using the wireless telephone line forthe master communication device through the host station, pager signalreception means for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system,and control means for controlling the wireless communication means basedon a predetermined pager signal received by the pager signal receptionmeans.

[0023] A second configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the firstconfiguration, in that the control means normally turns off the power ofthe wireless communication means, and when the pager signal receptionmeans receives a pager signal, determines whether or not the pagersignal includes an originating instruction that originating should beperformed to an originating telephone number, and when it determinesthat it is not included, performs control to maintain the power of thewireless communication means off.

[0024] A third configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the secondconfiguration, in that the control means performs control to turn on thepower of the wireless communication means when it determines that theoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number is included.

[0025] A fourth configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the thirdconfiguration, in that the control means controls the wirelesscommunication means to perform originating to an originating telephoneapparatus of the originating telephone number using the master ID afterthe power of the wireless communication means is turned on.

[0026] A fifth configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to fourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal receptionmeans receives the pager signal including the originating telephonenumber of the originating telephone apparatus, the control meansperforms control to notify a user of the fact that a telephone callshould be made to the originating telephone apparatus of the originatingtelephone number.

[0027] A sixth configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to fifth configurations, by further comprisingtransmission/reception means for receiving the slave ID created by themaster communication device in the control delegation and performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from the mastercommunication device, and characterized in that, when thetransmission/reception means receives the slave ID, the control meanscontrols the storage means to store the slave ID in the storage means.

[0028] A seventh configuration of a wireless communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the sixthconfiguration, in that the storage means has a pager ID stored thereinfor the page signal received by the pager signal reception means, andthe control means controls the storage means and thetransmission/reception means to read and transmit the pager ID to themaster communication device in the control delegation.

[0029] A first configuration of a master communication device accordingto the present invention is a master communication device having aunique master ID set therefor for using a wireless telephone lineprovided by a host station, using n (n is an integer equal to or largerthan one) wireless communication devices provided with any one of thesaid first to seventh configurations as slave communication devices, andproviding each of the slave communication devices with a slave IDcreated on the basis of the master ID to perform control delegation toeach of the slave communication devices, characterized by comprisingwireless communication means for performing wireless communicationthrough the host station by transmitting the master ID to the hoststation, and control means for controlling the wireless communicationmeans, and characterized in that, when the wireless communication meansreceives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus,a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated originatedfrom the originating telephone apparatus, the control means disconnectsthe communication with the telephone apparatus and controls the wirelesscommunication means such that the pager signal reception means of theslave communication device receives a pager signal including theoriginating telephone number and an originating instruction thatoriginating should be performed to the originating telephone number.

[0030] A second configuration of a master communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the first configuration,by further comprising storage means for storing a pager ID of each ofthe slave communication devices to which control has been delegated, andcharacterized in that the control means reads the pager ID from thestorage means and controls the wireless communication means to performoriginating to the pager ID of the slave communication device such thatthe pager signal reception means of the slave communication devicereceives the pager signal including the originating telephone number andthe originating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number.

[0031] A third configuration of a master communication device accordingto the present invention is characterized, in the second configuration,by further comprising transmission/reception means for receiving thepager ID from each of the slave communication devices in the controldelegation and performing transmission and reception of various signalsto and from each of the slave communication devices, and characterizedin that the control means stores each of the pager IDs received fromeach of the slave communication devices in the storage means and createsslave IDs corresponding in number to the slave communication devices towhich control is to be delegated, and controls thetransmission/reception means to transmit individually each of the slaveIDs to each of the slave communication devices to which control is to bedelegated.

[0032] A first configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized by comprising amaster communication device having a unique master ID set therefor forusing a wireless communication line provided by a host station and oneor more slave communication devices receiving control delegation fromthe master communication device to perform communication using thewireless communication line for the master communication device, andcharacterized in that the master communication device comprises wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication through thehost station by transmitting the master ID to the host station, andcontrol means for controlling the wireless communication means, and eachof the slave communication devices comprises storage means for storingthe master ID and a slave ID recognizable by the master communicationdevice, wireless communication means for performing communication usingthe wireless telephone line for the master communication device throughthe host station, pager signal reception means for receiving a pagersignal of a radio paging system, and control means for controlling thewireless communication means based on a predetermined pager signalreceived by the pager signal reception means.

[0033] A second configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the firstconfiguration, in that the control means of the slave communicationdevice normally turns off the power of the wireless communication means,and when the pager signal reception means receives a pager signal,determines whether or not the pager signal includes an originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to an originatingtelephone number, and when it determines that it is not included,performs control to maintain the power of the wireless communicationmeans off.

[0034] A third configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the secondconfiguration, in that the control means of the slave communicationdevice performs control to turn on the power of the wirelesscommunication means when it determines that the originating instructionthat originating should be performed to the originating telephone numberis included.

[0035] A fourth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the thirdconfiguration, in that the control means of the slave communicationdevice controls the wireless communication means to perform originatingto an originating telephone apparatus of the originating telephonenumber using the master ID after the power of the wireless communicationmeans is turned on.

[0036] A fifth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to fourth configurations, in that, when the pager signal receptionmeans receives the pager signal including the originating telephonenumber of the originating telephone apparatus, the control means of theslave communication device performs control to notify a user of the factthat a telephone call should be made to the originating telephoneapparatus of the originating telephone number.

[0037] A sixth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to fifth configurations, in that each of the slave communicationdevices comprises transmission/reception means for receiving the slaveID created by the master communication device in the control delegationand performing transmission and reception of various signals to and fromthe master communication device, and when the transmission/receptionmeans receives the slave ID, the control means of each slavecommunication device controls the storage means to store the slave ID inthe storage means.

[0038] A seventh configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the sixthconfiguration, in that the storage means of each of the slavecommunication devices has a pager ID stored therein for the page signalreceived by the pager signal reception means, and the control means ofeach slave communication device controls the storage means and thetransmission/reception means to read and transmit the pager ID to themaster communication device in the control delegation.

[0039] An eighth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to seventh configurations, in that the master communication devicecomprises storage means for storing a pager ID of each of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated, and thecontrol means of the master communication device reads the pager ID fromthe storage means and controls the wireless communication means toperform originating to the pager ID of the slave communication devicesuch that the pager signal reception means of the slave communicationdevice receives the pager signal including the originating telephonenumber and the originating instruction that originating should beperformed to the originating telephone number.

[0040] A ninth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the eighthconfiguration, in that the master communication device comprisestransmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID from each of theslave communication devices in the control delegation and performingtransmission and reception of various signals to and from each of theslave communication devices, and the control means of the mastercommunication device stores each pager ID received from each of theslave communication devices in the storage means and creates slave IDscorresponding in number to the slave communication devices to whichcontrol is to be delegated, and controls the transmission/receptionmeans to transmit individually each of the slave IDs to each of theslave communication devices to which control is to be delegated.

[0041] A tenth configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to ninth configurations, in that, when the wireless communicationmeans receives, during communication with an originating telephoneapparatus, a signal indicating an originating telephone number of theoriginating telephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated originatedfrom the originating telephone apparatus, the control means disconnectsthe communication with the telephone apparatus and controls the wirelesscommunication means such that the pager signal reception means of theslave communication device receives a pager signal including anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number.

[0042] An eleventh configuration of a master/slave communication deviceaccording to the present invention is characterized, in any one of thefirst to tenth configurations, in that the pager signal reception meansof the slave communication device receives a pager signal including theoriginating telephone number of the originating telephone apparatus andan originating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number originated from the originating telephoneapparatus.

[0043] A first configuration of a wireless communication systemaccording to the present invention is characterized by comprising amaster communication device having a unique master ID set therefor forusing a wireless telephone line, one or more slave communication devicesreceiving control delegation from the master communication device toperform communication using the wireless telephone line for the mastercommunication device, and a host station for performing control ofcommunication using the wireless telephone line and transmission controlof a pager signal of a radio paging system, and characterized in thatthe master communication device comprises wireless communication meansfor performing wireless communication through the host station bytransmitting the master ID to the host station, and control means forcontrolling the wireless communication means, and each of the slavecommunication devices comprises storage means for storing the master IDand a slave ID recognizable by the master communication device, wirelesscommunication means for performing communication using the wirelesstelephone line for the master communication device through the hoststation, pager signal reception means for receiving a pager signal ofthe radio paging system, and control means for controlling the wirelesscommunication means based on a predetermined pager signal received bythe pager signal reception means.

[0044] A second configuration of a wireless communication systemaccording to the present invention is characterized, in the firstconfiguration, in that the host station has a plurality of radio signaltransmission/reception means for performing transmission/reception of aradio signal using the wireless telephone line and receiving a radiosignal originated from the wireless communication means of the mastercommunication device or the wireless communication means of each slavecommunication device to perform location registration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045]FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an outline of a communicationsystem to which the present invention is applied;

[0046]FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the circuitconfigurations of a master communication device and a slavecommunication device;

[0047]FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining an outline of a hoststation;

[0048]FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of processing forissuing respective slave IDs to a plurality of slave communicationdevices to delegate control by the master communication device;

[0049]FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining processing of the slavecommunication device after the control delegation;

[0050]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for explaining operation performed by auser of an originating telephone or the like; and

[0051]FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining processing of the mastercommunication device after the control delegation. DESCRIPTION OF THEREFERENCE NUMBERS 1 master communication device 2 slave communicationdevice (wireless communication device) 3 host station 30 central controlstation 31 cellular control station section 32 radio paging controlstation section 33, 34, 35 cellular base station (radio signaltransmission/reception means) 36 radio paging base station 100originating telephone (originating telephone apparatus) 10 portabletelephone body 11 control section 12 operation input section 13transmission/reception section (wireless communication means) 15 displaysection 16 sound input section 17 sound output section 18 vibrator 19memory 4 responder (transmission/reception means) 20 portable telephonebody 21 control section 22 operation input section 23transmission/reception section (wireless communication means) 24 pagersignal reception section (pager signal reception means) 25 displaysection 26 sound input section 27 sound output section 28 vibrator 29memory 5 interrogator (transmission/reception means)

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0052] An embodiment of the present invention will be described indetail with reference to the drawings.

[0053] (General Outline)

[0054]FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of a communication system towhich the present invention is applied.

[0055] In the communication system of the present embodiment, when anunspecified originating telephone 100 performs originating (originates acall) to any slave communication device (for example, a slavecommunication device 2A) of a plurality of slave communication devices 2(2A, 2B, . . . 2 n) in a state where they have acquired slave IDs from amaster communication device 1 and received control delegation, themaster communication device 1 once receives the call originated from theoriginating telephone 100 by way of a host station 3 and transmits thefact of that originated call to the slave communication device 2A, andthe slave communication device 2A performs originating to theoriginating telephone 100 through the host station 3, thereby allowingbi-directional communication between the originating telephone 100 andthe specified slave communication device through the host station 3.

[0056] Here, the master communication device 1 has a unique ID(telephone number) set therefor for a telephone line for mobilecommunication (hereinafter referred to as “mobile communication line”),and the ID (hereinafter referred to as “master ID”) is registered andmanaged by the host station 3. On the other hand, each slavecommunication device 2 does not have a unique ID for the mobilecommunication line but has a unique ID (pager ID) set therefor forreceiving a pager signal, and the pager ID is registered and managed bythe host station 3.

[0057] (Schematic Configuration of Master Communication Device)

[0058] The master communication device 1 has a portable telephone body10 provided with functions as a portable telephone, and a responder 4for transmitting and receiving various signals to and from therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n. The mastercommunication device 1 has a function of performing transmission andreception of radio signals to and from the respective slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n through the responder 4 and a functionof performing transmission and reception of radio signals to and fromthe host station 3 over the mobile communication line based on themaster ID.

[0059] The portable telephone body 10 of the master communication device1 has the master ID (telephone number) set therefor for using the mobilecommunication line. As shown in FIG. 1, an antenna 13 a of a wirelesscommunication means for performing wireless communication with the hoststation 3 is arranged on the top of a device body (housing), and on thefront of the device, arranged from the top are a sound output section 17formed of a speaker or the like, a display section 15 comprising aliquid crystal panel or the like, an operation input section 12comprising a number of key switches for entering telephone numbers orvarious commands, a sound input section 16 formed of a microphone or thelike. The other constituent parts of the master communication device 1are later described with reference to FIG. 2.

[0060] While the embodiment is configured such that the responder 4 isintegrally provided on the top of the portable telephone body 10 asshown in FIG. 1, the configuration is, of course, not limited to thisarrangement, and further, a configuration in which the responder 4 isremovably provided for the portable telephone body 10 may be used.

[0061] (Schematic Configuration of Slave Communication Device)

[0062] On the other hand, each of the slave communication devices 2A to2 n has a portable telephone body 20 and an interrogator 5 forperforming transmission and reception of various signals to and from themaster communication device 1. Each of the slave communication devices2A to 2 n has a function of performing transmission and reception ofradio signals to and from the master communication device 1 through theinterrogator 5, a function of receiving a pager signal transmitted fromthe host station 3, and a function of performing transmission andreception of radio signals to and from the host station 3 over themobile communication line based on the master ID of the mastercommunication device 1 on condition that control delegation is receivedfrom the master communication device 1.

[0063] The portable telephone body 20 of each of the slave communicationdevices 2 is similar in appearance to the master communication device 1.As shown in FIG. 1, an antenna 23 a of a wireless communication meansfor performing wireless communication with the host station 3 isarranged on the top of a device body (housing), and on the front of thedevice, arranged from the top are a sound output section 27 formed of aspeaker or the like, a display section 25 comprising a liquid crystalpanel or the like, an operation input section 22 comprising a number ofkey switches for entering telephone numbers or various commands, a soundinput section 26 formed of a microphone or the like. The otherconstituent parts of the slave communication devices 2 are laterdescribed with reference to FIG. 2.

[0064] While the embodiment is configured such that the responder 5 isintegrally provided on the top of the portable telephone body 20 asshown in FIG. 1, the configuration is, of course, not limited to thisarrangement, and a configuration in which the responder 5 is removablyprovided for the portable telephone body 20 may be used, and further, aconfiguration in which the responder 5 is not provided and a slave ID ispreviously set may be used, as described later.

[0065] (Outline of Host Station)

[0066] Next, the outline of the host station 3 is described withreference to FIG. 3.

[0067] The host station 3 has a central control section 30 whichincludes a cellular control station section 31 for performing variouscontrols for the mobile communication system such as switching of themobile communication line and a radio paging control station section 32for performing various controls for a radio paging system such as radiopaging of a pager unit (beeper), and which is connected to a publicnetwork, and has a plurality of cellular base stations 33, 34, 35connected to the cellular control station section 31, and a radio pagingbase station 36 connected to the radio paging control station section32. It should be noted that, for the convenience of the description,FIG. 3 shows only three extracted cellular base stations and only oneextracted radio paging base station.

[0068] The central control station 30 of the host station 3 controls thecellular control station section 31 for the mobile communication systemand the radio paging control station section 32 for the radio pagingsystem to perform switching control of both lines of fixed communication(wired) over the public network and mobile communication (wireless).

[0069] Each of the cellular base stations 33 to 35 transmits a radiosignal (radio wave) for performing communication over the mobilecommunication telephone line to within a predetermined area (cell) basedon the control of the cellular control station section 31. On the otherhand, the radio paging base station 36 transmits a radio signal (radiowave) to be reached in a predetermined area such that a terminalapparatus having a pager function can receive a pager signal based onthe control of the radio paging control station section 32. It should benoted that the area where the radio wave from the radio paging basestation 36 can reach is wider than that of one cellular base station.

[0070] In the cellular control station section 31, telephone numbers ofvarious portable telephones including the master communication device 1are registered. In addition, the cellular control station section 31performs control of the respective telephone numbers during use of themobile communication line and management for accounting or the like.

[0071] The radio paging control station section 32 registers pagingtelephone numbers (pager IDs) of respective pager units, and uponreception of various signals including message information or the likefrom various originating telephone apparatuses to a predetermined pagerID, performs control for transmitting a paging signal (pager signal) toa pager unit such as a beeper having that pager ID from the radio pagingbase station 36 to transfer the various signals including messageinformation or the like to the pager unit.

[0072] (Circuit Configuration of Master Communication Device)

[0073] Next, the circuit configurations of the master communicationdevice 1 and the respective slave communication devices 2 are describedwith reference to a block diagram of FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, theportable telephone body 10 of the master communication device 1comprises a control section 11 for controlling the overall mastercommunication device 1, the operation input section 12 described in FIG.1, a transmission/reception section 13 as a wireless communication meansfor performing communication with the host station 3, the displaysection 15, the sound input section 16 and the sound output section 17described in FIG. 1, a vibrator 18 for vibrating the whole mastercommunication device 1, and a memory 19 for storing various information,later described.

[0074] The control section 11 of the portable telephone body 10 controlsthe transmission/reception section 13, the display section 15, the soundoutput section 17, the vibrator 18, and the memory 19 based on variouscontrol programs and input operation through the operation input section12. In addition, the control section 11 of the portable telephone body10 is connected to the responder 4, later described, to control therespective sections based on signals input from the responder 4.

[0075] The transmission/reception section 13 of the portable telephonebody 10 performs transmission and reception of various radio signals toperform mobile communication through the host station 3 using the mobilecommunication line based on the set master ID.

[0076] The portable telephone body 10 originates a weak radio wave forlocation registration (radio signal for location registration) from thetransmission/reception section 13 in a state in which the main powersupply is turned on. When the radio signal for location registration isreceived by any of the cellular base stations (33 to 35), the locationof the master communication device 1 is registered by the cellularcontrol station section 31.

[0077] In addition, in the portable telephone body 10, when a telephonenumber of a telephone of a terminating party which is a subject ofcommunication is input on the basis of input operation through theoperation input section 12, that telephone number is displayed on thedisplay section 15 by the control of the control section 11 to transmita radio signal (connecting signal) for requesting a line connection withthe telephone of the terminating party through thetransmission/reception section 13 and the antenna 13 a.

[0078] It should be noted that the aforementioned host station 3performs processing of receiving the connecting signal transmitted fromthe master communication device 1 by any of the cellular base stations(33 to 35) to connect with the telephone of the terminating party by thecellular control station section 31.

[0079] Then, when the line is connected with the telephone of theterminating party, in the portable telephone body 10, voice from thetelephone of the terminating party is output as voice from the soundoutput section 17 by the control of the control section 11, and voice inresponse thereto uttered by a user on the originating (calling) side isconverted into an electrical signal through the sound input section 16,subjected to predetermined processing in the transmission/receptionsection 13, and transmitted as a radio signal for a telephone call tothe telephone of the terminating party through the antenna 13 a and thehost station 13.

[0080] On the other hand, in the portable telephone body 10, when aradio signal (connecting signal) for connecting the line transmittedfrom a telephone of a party on the other end serving as an originatingparty through the host station 3 is received by thetransmission/reception section 13 through the antenna 13 a, an incomingtone is output from the sound output section 17 by the control of thecontrol section 11 or the vibrator 18 is vibrated depending on a settingstate based on the input operation through the operation input section12. When a user of the master communication device 1 serving as aterminating party operates a predetermined key on the operation inputsection 12, processing of connecting the line with the originating sideis performed to enter a state in which a telephone call can be made withthe telephone of the party on the other end similarly to theaforementioned case.

[0081] Besides this, the operation input section 12 of the portabletelephone body 10 is operated in performing various settings whencommunication is performed with the interrogator 5 of the slavecommunication device 2 through the responder 4.

[0082] The memory 19 of the master communication device 1 has a writedisable storage area (ROM) and a writable storage area (RAM), and in thepresent embodiment, the RAM is a non-volatile area in which data in theRAM is not lost even in a state in which the main power supply is turnedoff.

[0083] In the ROM of the memory 19, information on the master ID (forexample, a telephone number “090-1234-5678”) concerning the mobilecommunication line for that master communication device 1 is stored.Then, when the master communication device 1 establishes communicationover the mobile communication line, that master ID is transmitted to theside of the host station 3 from the transmission section 13 and verifiedwith the telephone number information registered in the cellular controlstation section 31 of the host station 3 to perform authentication ofthe master ID.

[0084] In addition, in the ROM of the memory 19, a control program forperforming transmission and reception of a predetermined signal inperforming communication with each slave communication device 2 throughthe responder 4 is stored.

[0085] On the other hand, in the RAM of the memory 19, an area forstoring various information transmitted from each slave communicationdevice 2 in performing communication with each slave communicationdevice 2, an area for storing the telephone number of the originatingtelephone 100, later described, a work area of the control section 11and the like are reserved.

[0086] The responder 4 of the master communication device 1 performstransmission and reception of data to and from the interrogator 5 of theslave communication device 2 and comprises a noncontact type RFID chip.In the master communication device 1, the control section 11 creates aslave ID based on the said control program at the time of communicationwith the slave communication device 2 and reads the master ID from thememory 19 to supply the slave ID and the master ID to the responder 4together with a control signal, so that the information on theserespective IDs is output from the responder 4 in the form of a radiosignal. It should be noted that a radio wave, an infrared ray or thelike can be used as the form of the radio signal.

[0087] In addition, the responder 4 of the master communication device 1outputs a connecting signal for establishing connection with theinterrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 based on the controlof the control section 11 prior to transmission of the slave ID andinformation on control contents, which processing is described later.

[0088] (Circuit Configuration of Slave Communication Device)

[0089] Next, the circuit configuration of the slave communicationdevices 2 is described. As shown in FIG. 2, the portable telephone body20 of the slave communication device 2 has a control section 21 forcontrolling the overall this slave communication device 2, the operationinput section 22 described in FIG. 1, a transmission/reception section23 as a wireless communication means for performing wirelesscommunication through the host station 3 using the telephone line formobile communication, a pager signal reception section 24 for receivinga pager signal from the host station 3, the display section 25, thesound input section 26 and the sound output section 27 described in FIG.1, a vibrator 28 for vibrating the whole slave communication device 2,and a memory 29 for storing various information, later described. Inaddition, the interrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 isconnected to the control section 21 and performs communication forcontrol delegation with the responder 4 of the master communicationdevice 1.

[0090] The control section 21 of the portable telephone body 20 controlsthe transmission/reception section 23, the pager signal receptionsection 24, the display section 25, the sound output section 27, thevibrator 28, and the memory 29 based on various control programs andinput operation through the operation input section 22. Also, thecontrol section 21 is connected to the interrogator 5, later described,to control the respective sections based on signals input from theinterrogator 5.

[0091] The transmission/reception section 23 of the portable telephonebody 20 performs transmission and reception of various radio signalsincluding the aforementioned radio signal for location registration inorder to perform mobile communication through the host station 3 usingthe mobile communication line based on the master ID by using the masterID of the master communication device 1.

[0092] In the slave communication device 2, however, the control section21 performs control such that the transmission/reception section 23 isnormally not supplied with power even in a state in which the main powersupply is on, and the radio signal for location registration is notoriginated normally. Then, when the pager signal reception section 24receives a predetermined signal, as later described, the control section21 performs control for turning on the power of thetransmission/reception section 23.

[0093] The pager signal reception section 24 receives a pager signaltransmitted from the radio paging base station 36 of the host station 3.Here, for a reduction in power consumption, the control section 21performs control such that the power is intermittently turned on in thepager signal reception section 24 to perform intermittent reception ofthe pager signal.

[0094] For the pager function of the slave communication device 2, sincethe pager signal reception section 24 has no transmission function, auser of the slave communication device 2 may perform locationregistration for an area to which the user wishes to move by using apublic telephone or the like when the user moves across pager signaltransmittable areas of the radio paging base station 36 similarly to atypical pager system. Specifically, when the user moves across areas,for example, the user may call a registered representative number with apublic telephone, not shown, and enter the paging telephone number(pager ID) of that slave communication device 2 and the number of anarea to which the user wishes to move to cause the radio paging controlstation section 32 of the host station 3 to store information on thearea to which the user is to move.

[0095] The memory 29 of the slave communication device 2 has a writedisable storage area (ROM) and a writable storage area (RAM), and theRAM is a non-volatile area in which data is not lost even in a state inwhich the main power supply is turned off, similarly to the memory 19 ofthe master communication device 1.

[0096] In the ROM of the memory 29, a paging telephone number (pager ID)concerning the pager function of that slave communication device 2 isstored. In addition, in the ROM of the memory 29, a control program forperforming transmission and reception of a predetermined signal inperforming communication with the master communication device 1 throughthe interrogator 5 is stored.

[0097] On the other hand, in the RAM of the memory 29, an area forstoring various information transmitted from the master communicationdevice 1 in performing communication with the master communicationdevice 1, a work area of the control section 21 and the like arereserved.

[0098] The interrogator 5 of the slave communication device 2 comprisesa noncontact type RFID chip communicable with the responder 4 of themaster communication device 1.

[0099] It should be noted that, while wireless communication isperformed between the master communication device 1 and the slavecommunication device 2 by using the noncontact type RFID chiprespectively in the present embodiment, a configuration in which wirecommunication is performed by connecting the master communication device1 with the slave communication devices 2 through cables or aconfiguration in which communication is performed by another wirelesscommunication means such as Bluetooth may be used.

[0100] (Control Delegation from Master Communication Device to SlaveCommunication Device)

[0101] Next, control delegation performed from the master communicationdevice 1 to each slave communication device 2 is described withreference to a flow chart of FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a flow chart forexplaining processing performed between the master communication device1 and the plurality of slave communication devices 2A, 2B, . . . 2 n.

[0102] In the present embodiment, first, the responder 4 of the mastercommunication device 1 is brought near to within a predetermineddistance from the respective interrogators 5 of the slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n, and a user of the master communication device 1presses a predetermined key switch of the operation input section 12. Atthis point, a connecting signal is transmitted from the responder 4 inthe master communication device 1 and the slave communication devices 2Ato 2 n receive this connecting signal by the respective interrogators 5(step S1).

[0103] Next, at step S2, the respective control sections 21 of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n control the respective interrogators 5to transmit verification signals to the master communication device 1.These verification signals include slave terminal information unique tothose slave communication devices 2 and are different from one anotherfor the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n. Here, theslave terminal information unique to the slave communication device 2includes at least information on the pager ID since each of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n has a unique paging telephone number(pager ID) for the pager function in the present embodiment. Besides,the slave terminal information may include, for example, information onthe product numbers of the respective communication devices 2,information on users of the respective slave communication devices 2 orthe like.

[0104] Upon reception of the verification signals from the respectiveslave communication devices 2A to 2 n at the responder 4, the controlsection 11 of the master communication device 1 extracts and temporarilystores the respective pager IDs in the memory 19 at step S3 and controlsthe display section 15 to display a list of the respective slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n to perform display for prompting a userof the master communication device to select a slave communicationdevice which is a subject of control delegation through operation of theoperation input section 12. For the display of the list of therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, the respective pagerIDs and other slave terminal information may be displayed. Then, thecontrol section 11 of the master communication device 1 moves to step S4to monitor whether or not the selection of the slave communicationdevice is made through the input operation of the operation inputsection 12.

[0105] When the selection of the slave communication device is madethrough the input operation of the operation input section 12, thecontrol section 11 of the master communication device 1 creates (issues)slave IDs corresponding in number to the selected slave communicationdevices (step S5). In the present embodiment, these slave IDs are IDswhich allow the control station 11 of the master communication device 1to recognize that they are issued by the master communication device 1and which are different from one another to identify the respective onesof the plurality of the slave communication devices.

[0106] In this embodiment, as the slave IDs, IDs are issued by addingpredetermined symbols to the master ID (telephone number) of the mastercommunication device 1 to result in telephone numbers different from oneanother for the respective slave communication devices. Specifically,the slave IDs are created as “01” for the first slave communicationdevice 2A, “02” for the second slave communication device 2B, . . . ,and allocated to the respective slave communication devices.

[0107] Next, the control section 11 of the master communication device 1controls the responder 4 to individually transmit the created slave IDsand the master ID to the respective slave communication devices 2 (stepS6), and subsequently, stores the respective pager IDs and the issuedslave IDs of the respective slave communication devices 2 to whichcontrol has been delegated in correspondence with each other in the RAMof the memory 19 (step S7). It should be noted that the processing atstep S7 may be performed after the issue of the slave IDs and before thetransmission. In addition, while the slave IDs and the master ID aresimultaneously transmitted here, they may be transmitted separately.

[0108] Upon response of the signals including the slave IDs and themaster ID from the master communication device 1 at the interrogators 5in the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, each controlsection 11 extracts and stores the slave ID and the master ID in the RAMof the memory 29 (step S8). It should be noted that, in this case, thepower of each transmission/reception section 23 of each of the slavecommunication devices 2A to 2 n is kept off.

[0109] In the present embodiment, such control delegation performed fromthe master communication device 1 to the plurality of the slavecommunication devices 2 eliminates the need for setting of uniquetelephone numbers for using the mobile communication line on the side ofthe respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n to lift the burdenof paying the base rate for the use rights of new telephone numbers andto save telephone number resources for the mobile communication line.

[0110] In addition, in the present embodiment, since a small amount ofdata is transmitted and received between the responder 4 of the mastercommunication device 1 and the interrogators 5 of the slavecommunication devices 2, both of the responder 4 and the interrogators 5can be configured using simple interfaces.

[0111] Furthermore, in the present embodiment, since the power of eachtransmission/reception section 23 of each of the slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n is normally turned off to make the portable telephonefunctions in an unused state, the radio signal for location registrationis normally not originated from the transmission/reception sections 23in the respective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n, andinconveniences such as an increased burden of processing for locationregistration can be avoided on the side of the central control station30 of the host station 3 even when the respective slave communicationdevices 2A to 2 n move to different points distant from the mastercommunication device 1, respectively, after the control delegation.Thus, no inconvenience occurs even when users carrying the respectiveslave communication devices 2A to 2 n move to different points distantfrom the master communication device 1, respectively.

[0112] It should be noted that since the power of the pager signalreception sections 24 is always turned on, the pager function is alwaysturned on to be in a state in which a pager signal can be received bythe respective pager signal reception sections 24 in the respectiveslave communication devices 2A to 2 n.

[0113] (Operation of Respective Slave Communication Devices afterControl Delegation)

[0114] Next, the operation of the respective slave communication devices2 after such control delegation is made is described with reference to aflow chart of FIG. 5. It should be noted that while only the operationof the slave communication device 2A is described here, the operation ofthe other slave communication devices 2B to 2 n is similar thereto.

[0115] Since the pager function is always turned on as described above,the slave communication device 2A monitors by the control section 21whether or not the pager signal reception signal 24 receives a pagersignal (step S21), and when the pager signal reception section receivesa pager signal, the control section 21 controls the sound output section27 or the vibrator 28 to issue a ringing tone or vibration for pagingthe user (step S22).

[0116] Subsequently, the control section 21 controls the respectivesections to extract various information on an originating party such asa telephone number of the originating party and a message from theoriginating party from the received pager signal (step S23), to storethe various information in the RAM of the memory 29 (step S24), and todisplay the information on the display section 25 (step S25).

[0117] In addition, the control section 21 determines whether or not aninstruction concerning control of the portable telephone function (anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to theoriginating telephone number) is included in the received pager signal(step S26), and when not included, considers it as normal and simplepager originating to terminate the processing with the portabletelephone function maintained off and then returns to step S21, or whenincluded, turns on the power of the transmission and reception section23 to turn on the portable telephone function (step S27) to performoriginating using the mobile communication line for the mastercommunication device 1, thus entering a state in which the press of apredetermined button of the operation input section 22 is waited (stepS28).

[0118] With this, the transmission and reception section 23 originates asignal for location registration based on the master ID, that signal forlocation registration is received by the cellular base stations (33 to35) in an area in which that slave communication device 2 is located,and the cellular control station section 31 performs processing oflocation registration. It should be noted that, at this point, thelocation registration in the cellular control station section 31 ischanged from the location of the master communication device 1 to thelocation of the slave communication device 2A in view of step S63, laterdescribed in FIG. 7.

[0119] Then, when the predetermined button of the operation inputsection 22 is pressed, the control section 21 of the slave communicationdevice 2A reads the information on the originating telephone number andthe information on the master ID (for example, “090-1234-5678”) from theRAM of the memory 29, and controls the transmission and receptionsection 23 to transmit an originating signal including these respectiveinformation (step S29). With this, the originating signal is received bythe cellular base stations (33 to 35) in the area where that slavecommunication device 2A is located, and the central control station 30of the host station 3 connects the originating telephone apparatus withthe slave communication device 2A over the mobile communication linebased on the master ID to enter a state where bi-directionalcommunication (telephone call) is possible.

[0120] Then, the control section 21 of the slave communication device 2monitors the state of the transmission/reception section 23 to waituntil that communication is completed (step S30), and when thecommunication is completed by the press of a telephone call completionbutton of the operation input section 22 or the like, shuts down thepower of the transmission/reception section 23 and controls thetransmission/reception section 23 to again turn off the portabletelephone function (step S31), and terminates a series of processing toreturn to step S21.

[0121] In this manner, in the present embodiment, since each of theslave communication devices 2 which received control delegation performswireless communication through the host station 3 using the master ID,various processing such as authentication of the slave IDs by the hoststation 3 or the like is not required. Also, whoever users of therespective slave communication devices 2A to 2 n are, the user of themaster communication device 1 is charged for bills for the telephonecharges or service charges.

[0122] In addition, in the present embodiment, in each of the slavecommunication devices 2 which received control delegation, when thepager signal reception means receives a pager signal, the controlsection 21 determines whether or not it includes the originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number, and when not included, it is considered as a normalpager signal and the power of the transmission/reception section 23 ismaintained off, so that it also has a function as a pager-only unit, inwhich a telephone call may be made from a public telephone or the liketo the originating telephone number.

[0123] (When Communication is Performed Between Originating Telephoneand Slave Communication Device)

[0124] Next, description is made with reference to FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 forprocessing or the like on the side of an unspecified telephone apparatus(originating telephone 100) and the side of the master communicationdevice 1 when the slave communication device 2A, which received controldelegation from the master communication device 1 and has the slave IDset therefor in a state in which it is already distant from the mastercommunication device 1 and the other slave communication devices 2B to 2n, receives a call originated from the originating telephone to make atelephone call. Here, FIG. 6 is a flow diagram for explaining theoperation or the like performed by a user of the originating telephone,and FIG. 7 is a flow chart for explaining the processing of the mastercommunication device 1 after the control delegation.

[0125] First, an originator performs input operation of an operationinput section (not shown) of the originating telephone 100. Here, thetelephone number of the master communication device 1 is keyed toperform transmission and reception of a connecting signal forestablishing communication with the master communication device 1through the host station 3 (step S41). Then, when this connecting signalis transmitted and received, the telephone number information of theoriginating telephone 100 is received by the transmission/receptionsection 31 through the host station 3, and the control section 11 of themaster communication device 1 stores the originating telephone numberinformation in the RAM of the memory 19 (step S51). After thetransmission of the connecting signal, the originator hears a tone(ringing tone) from the handset of the originating telephone 100 to waitfor the master communication device 1 to enter a response state (stepS42).

[0126] When the transmission/reception section 13 receives theconnecting signal from the host station 3 based on the originating fromthe originating telephone 100, the control section 11 of the mastercommunication device 1 controls the sound output section 17 to generatea normal ringing tone (incoming tone) (step S52), and monitors theoperation input section 12 to wait for response operation of the user(step S53) and monitors whether or not the ringing tone exceeds apredetermined number (step S54), and when response operation isperformed within the predetermined number, response processing isperformed for connecting the line with the originating side as describedabove (step S55) to enter a state in which a telephone call with theoriginator of the originating telephone 100 is possible and theprocessing moves to step S57, later described. On the other had, if noresponse is made even when the ringing tone exceeds the predeterminednumber, automatic response is made to perform answering machineprocessing (step S56) and the processing moves to step S57.

[0127] In the answering machine processing, the correspondencerelationship between the users of the respective communication devices2A to 2 n and the slave IDs may be passed as a message to theoriginating telephone 100. For example, such a message as “01 after #for originating to OO, 02 after # for originating to OO, . . . ” may bepassed.

[0128] When the master communication device 1 enters the responded stateor the answering machine state by automatic response, the originatoroperates the operation input section, not shown, of the originatingtelephone 100 to transmit a signal for specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to the master communication device 1 from theoriginating telephone 100 through the host station 3 (step S43).

[0129] In this example, the user of the originating telephone 100presses a “0” key and a “1” key for specifying a slave ID “01” given tothe associated slave communication device 2A by the master communicationdevice 1 after the press of a “#” mark key of the operation inputsection as operation for transmitting the signal for specifying a slavecommunication device to the master communication device 1.

[0130] The control section 11 of the master communication device 1monitors whether or not a signal indicating the “#” mark is receivedfrom the originating party during connection with the originatingtelephone 100 after the response (step S57), and when the signal isreceived, monitors whether or not a signal indicating a slave ID of anyof the slave communication devices is received (step S58), and when thesignal is received, verifies it with the slave IDs stored in the memory19 to specify the slave communication device 2 with which theoriginating telephone 100 demands to communicate (step S59), andfurther, associates the slave ID of the specified slave communicationdevice (in this case, the slave communication device 2A) with theoriginating telephone number stored in the memory 19 at step S51 (stepS60), and performs processing of disconnecting the line with theoriginating telephone (step S61).

[0131] It should be noted that, for the answering machine processing ofthe master communication device 1, for example, a voice message as“since calling will be made now, please hang up and wait for a while.”may be passed, or the pager ID of the slave communication device 2Aspecified by the originating telephone may be notified to the user ofthe originating telephone before the disconnection of the line with theoriginating telephone.

[0132] Then, when the line with the originating telephone 100 isdisconnected, the control section 11 of the master communication device1 extracts the pager ID of the specified slave communication device 2Aand controls the transmission/reception section 13 to performoriginating to that pager ID, and at this point, creates, as a pagersignal, information on the originating telephone number and anoriginating instruction for making a call to the originating telephonenumber (for example, “#TEL to 03-1234-5678” or the like), and performsprocessing of transmitting that pager signal to the host station 3 fromthe transmission/reception section 13 (step S62). With this, the slavecommunication device 2A which received that pager signal by the pagersignal reception section 24 through the host station 3 performs theprocessing at step S21 and later as described above in FIG. 5. Theprocessing at step S29 enables originating to the originating telephone100 to perform communication with the originating telephone 100 throughthe host station 3.

[0133] The control section 11 of the master communication device 1performs control to shut off the power of the transmission/receptionsection 13 for a predetermined time period to temporarily turn off theportable telephone function after the transmission of the pager signal(step S63). With this, the location registration of the slavecommunication device 2A and the originating to the originating terminalapparatus at step S29 described above are smoothly performed to avoidthe inconvenience of confused location registration processing on theside of the central control station 30 of the host station 3.

[0134] It should be noted that, for the processing at step S42 in FIG. 6in the originating telephone 100, automation is possible by storing inthe originating telephone 100 a control program in which, in making acall from the originating telephone 100 to the master communicationdevice 1, when the user of the originating telephone 100 enters thetelephone number of the master communication device 1 and subsequently apredetermined key including the slave ID “01” for specifying the slavecommunication device, response of the master communication device 1 isautomatically detected, and a signal corresponding to the pressing ofthe “#” mark key, the “0” and “1” is automatically transmitted after theresponse of the master communication device 1, thereby reducing time andeffort of the user of the originating telephone 100.

[0135] In the aforementioned embodiment, while description has been madefor a case in which so-called callback processing is performed after themaster communication device 1 is passed to perform communication betweenthe originating telephone 100 and the slave communication device 2, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. The originating telephone 100may directly transmit a signal that a call should be made to theoriginating telephone to the pager signal reception section 24 of theslave communication device 2 through the host station 3. With this, forexample, communication can be established between the slavecommunication device 2 and the originating telephone 100 through thehost station 3 even when the main power supply of the mastercommunication device 1 is off. It should be noted that, in this case,for the originating telephone 100, processing equivalent to theaforementioned processing at step S62 of the master communication device1 maybe performed to transmit a pager signal including an originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number to the host station 3, and the processing for the slavecommunication device 2 need not be changed at all.

[0136] In addition, in the aforementioned embodiment, while each of themaster communication device and the slave communication devices isconfigured to comprise the transmission/reception means (responder 4,interrogator 5) for performing transmission/reception of various signalsin control delegation, the present invention is not limited thereto. Aconfiguration in which slave IDs recognizable by the mastercommunication device 1 are originally set for the respective slavecommunication devices 2, for example a configuration in which slave IDsand a master ID are written into the ROMs of the memories 29 by, forexample a ROM writer or the like, not shown, may be employed to be in astate in which the slave communication devices 2 receive, in a manner ofspeaking, semipermanent control delegation from the master communicationdevice 1, and in this case, the said transmission/reception means may beomitted.

[0137] As described above, according to the present embodiment, sinceeach of the slave communication devices 2 which received controldelegation performs wireless communication through the host station 3using the master ID on condition that the predetermined pager signal isreceived, various processing such as authentication of the slave IDs bythe host station 3 is not required, and the individual slavecommunication devices 2 can acquire information on the telephone numberof the originating telephone apparatus to perform originating to theoriginating telephone apparatus to perform mutual communication throughthe host station 3 even when they are at positions distant from themaster communication device 1.

[0138] While in the aforementioned embodiment, a case in which themaster communication device 1 is applied to a portable telephone hasbeen described, the master communication device 1 is applicable to apersonal computer and other various terminal apparatuses.

[0139] In addition, while in the aforementioned embodiment, a case inwhich the slave communication device 2 is applied to a portabletelephone has been described, the slave communication device 2 isapplicable to a digital camera, a video camera, a so-called mobilepersonal computer, and other various portable type electronicapparatuses. Thus, even an electronic used relatively infrequently isused as the slave communication device to allow escape from the burdenof the base rate resulting from new subscription of a mobilecommunication telephone, and simultaneously, to reduce telephone numberresources of mobile communication telephones on the communicationsoperator side.

INDUSTRIAL AVAILABILITY

[0140] Since the present invention is configured as above, it ispossible to provide a wireless communication device as a slavecommunication device, a master communication device, a master/slavecommunication device, and a wireless communication system which allow aslave communication device to perform communication with an originatingtelephone apparatus through a host station based on a call originatedfrom that originating telephone apparatus even when there are a numberof slave communication devices which received control delegation from amaster communication device to have slave IDs set therefor and thatslave communication device moves to a position away from the mastercommunication device or the other slave communication devices,presenting extreme industrial usefulness.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless communication device receiving controldelegation from a master communication device having a unique master IDset therefor for using a wireless telephone line provided by a hoststation to perform communication using the wireless telephone line forsaid master communication device, characterized by comprising: storagemeans for storing said master ID and a slave ID recognizable by saidmaster communication device; wireless communication means for performingcommunication using the wireless telephone line for said mastercommunication device through said host station; pager signal receptionmeans for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system; and controlmeans for controlling said wireless communication means based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionmeans.
 2. The wireless communication device according to claim 1,characterized in that said control means normally turns off the power ofsaid wireless communication means, and when said pager signal receptionmeans receives a pager signal, determines whether or not the pagersignal includes an originating instruction that originating should beperformed to an originating telephone number, and when it determinesthat it is not included, performs control to maintain the power of saidwireless communication means off.
 3. The wireless communication deviceaccording to claim 2, characterized in that said control means performscontrol to turn on the power of said wireless communication means whenit determines that the originating instruction that originating shouldbe performed to the originating telephone number is included.
 4. Thewireless communication device according to claim 3, characterized inthat said control means controls said wireless communication means toperform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of theoriginating telephone number using said master ID after the power ofsaid wireless communication means is turned on.
 5. The wirelesscommunication device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,characterized in that, when said pager signal reception means receivessaid pager signal including the originating telephone number of theoriginating telephone apparatus, said control means performs control tonotify a user of the fact that a telephone call should be made to theoriginating telephone apparatus of said originating telephone number. 6.The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,characterized by further comprising transmission/reception means forreceiving the slave ID created by said master communication device insaid control delegation and performing transmission and reception ofvarious signals to and from said master communication device, andcharacterized in that, when said transmission/reception means receivessaid slave ID, said control means controls said storage means to storesaid slave ID in said storage means.
 7. The wireless communicationdevice according to claim 6, characterized in that said storage meanshas a pager ID stored therein for the page signal received by said pagersignal reception means, and said control means controls said storagemeans and said transmission/reception means to read and transmit saidpager ID to said master communication device in said control delegation.8. A master communication device having a unique master ID set thereforfor using a wireless telephone line provided by a host station, using n(n is an integer equal to or larger than one) wireless communicationdevices according to any one of claims 1 to 7 as slave communicationdevices, and providing each of the slave communication devices with aslave ID created on the basis of said master ID to perform controldelegation to each of the slave communication devices, characterized bycomprising: wireless communication means for performing wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station; and control means for controlling said wirelesscommunication means, and characterized in that, when said wirelesscommunication means receives, during communication with an originatingtelephone apparatus, a signal indicating an originating telephone numberof the originating telephone apparatus and a signal specifying any ofthe slave communication devices to which control has been delegatedoriginated from said originating telephone apparatus, said control meansdisconnects the communication with said telephone apparatus and controlssaid wireless communication means such that said pager signal receptionmeans of said slave communication device receives a pager signalincluding said originating telephone number and an originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to said originatingtelephone number.
 9. The master communication device according to claim8, characterized by further comprising storage means for storing a pagerID of each of the slave communication devices to which control has beendelegated, and characterized in that said control means reads said pagerID from said storage means and controls said wireless communicationmeans to perform originating to the pager ID of said slave communicationdevice such that said pager signal reception means of said slavecommunication device receives the pager signal including the originatingtelephone number and the originating instruction that originating shouldbe performed to said originating telephone number.
 10. The mastercommunication device according to claim 9, characterized by furthercomprising transmission/reception means for receiving the pager ID fromeach of the slave communication devices in said control delegation andperforming transmission and reception of various signals to and fromeach of the slave communication devices, and characterized in that saidcontrol means stores each of the pager IDs received from each of theslave communication devices in said storage means and creates slave IDscorresponding in number to the slave communication devices to whichcontrol is to be delegated, and controls said transmission/receptionmeans to transmit individually each of the slave IDs to each of theslave communication devices to which control is to be delegated.
 11. Amaster/slave communication device comprising a master communicationdevice having a unique master ID set therefor for using a wirelesscommunication line provided by a host station and one or more slavecommunication devices receiving control delegation from said mastercommunication device to perform communication using the wirelesscommunication line for said master communication device, andcharacterized in that said master communication device compriseswireless communication means for performing wireless communicationthrough said host station by transmitting said master ID to said hoststation, and control means for controlling said wireless communicationmeans, and each of said slave communication devices comprises storagemeans for storing said master ID and a slave ID recognizable by saidmaster communication device, wireless communication means for performingcommunication using the wireless telephone line for said mastercommunication device through said host station, pager signal receptionmeans for receiving a pager signal of a radio paging system, and controlmeans for controlling said wireless communication means based on apredetermined pager signal received by said pager signal receptionmeans.
 12. The master/slave communication device according to claim 11,characterized in that said control means of said slave communicationdevice normally turns off the power of said wireless communicationmeans, and when said pager signal reception means receives a pagersignal, determines whether or not the pager signal includes anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to anoriginating telephone number, and when it determines that it is notincluded, performs control to maintain the power of said wirelesscommunication means off.
 13. The master/slave communication deviceaccording to claim 12, characterized in that said control means of saidslave communication device performs control to turn on the power of saidwireless communication means when it determines that the originatinginstruction that originating should be performed to the originatingtelephone number is included.
 14. The master/slave communication deviceaccording to claim 13, characterized in that said control means of saidslave communication device controls said wireless communication means toperform originating to an originating telephone apparatus of theoriginating telephone number using said master ID after the power ofsaid wireless communication means is turned on.
 15. The master/slavecommunication device according to any one of claims 11 to 14,characterized in that, when said pager signal reception means receivesthe pager signal including the originating telephone number of saidoriginating telephone apparatus, said control means of said slavecommunication device performs control to notify a user of the fact thata telephone call should be made to the originating telephone apparatusof said originating telephone number.
 16. The master/slave communicationdevice according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in thateach of the slave communication devices comprises transmission/receptionmeans for receiving the slave ID created by said master communicationdevice in said control delegation and performing transmission andreception of various signals to and from said master communicationdevice, and when said transmission/reception means receives said slaveID, said control means of said each slave communication device controlssaid storage means to store said slave ID in said storage means.
 17. Themaster/slave communication device according to claim 16, characterizedin that said storage means of each of the slave communication deviceshas a pager ID stored therein for the page signal received by said pagersignal reception means, and said control means of said each slavecommunication device controls said storage means and saidtransmission/reception means to read and transmit said pager ID to saidmaster communication device in said control delegation.
 18. Themaster/slave communication device according to any one of claims 11 to17, characterized in that said master communication device comprisesstorage means for storing a pager ID of each of the slave communicationdevices to which control has been delegated, and said control means ofsaid master communication device reads said pager ID from said storagemeans and controls said wireless communication means to performoriginating to the pager ID of said slave communication device such thatsaid pager signal reception means of said slave communication devicereceives the pager signal including the originating telephone number andthe originating instruction that originating should be performed to saidoriginating telephone number.
 19. The master/slave communication deviceaccording to claim 18, characterized in that said master communicationdevice comprises transmission/reception means for receiving the pager IDfrom each of the slave communication devices in said control delegationand performing transmission and reception of various signals to and fromeach of the slave communication devices, and said control means of saidmaster communication device stores each pager ID received from each ofthe slave communication devices in said storage means and creates slaveIDs corresponding in number to the slave communication devices to whichcontrol is to be delegated, and controls said transmission/receptionmeans to transmit individually each of the slave IDs to each of theslave communication devices to which control is to be delegated.
 20. Themaster/slave communication device according to any one of claims 11 to19, characterized in that, when said wireless communication meansreceives, during communication with an originating telephone apparatus,a signal indicating an originating telephone number of the originatingtelephone apparatus and a signal specifying any of the slavecommunication devices to which control has been delegated originatedfrom said originating telephone apparatus, said control meansdisconnects the communication with said telephone apparatus and controlssaid wireless communication means such that said pager signal receptionmeans of said slave communication device receives a pager signalincluding an originating instruction that originating should beperformed to said originating telephone number.
 21. The master/slavecommunication device according to any one of claims 11 to 20,characterized in that said pager signal reception means of said slavecommunication device receives a pager signal including the originatingtelephone number of the originating telephone apparatus and anoriginating instruction that originating should be performed to saidoriginating telephone number originated from the originating telephoneapparatus.
 22. A wireless communication system characterized bycomprising: a master communication device having a unique master ID settherefor for using a wireless telephone line; one or more slavecommunication devices receiving control delegation from said mastercommunication device to perform communication using the wirelesstelephone line for said master communication device; and a host stationfor performing control of communication using said wireless telephoneline and transmission control of a pager signal of a radio pagingsystem, and characterized in that said master communication devicecomprises wireless communication means for performing wirelesscommunication through said host station by transmitting said master IDto said host station, and control means for controlling said wirelesscommunication means, and each of said slave communication devicescomprises storage means for storing said master ID and a slave IDrecognizable by said master communication device, wireless communicationmeans for performing communication using the wireless telephone line forsaid master communication device through said host station, pager signalreception means for receiving a pager signal of the radio paging system,and control means for controlling said wireless communication meansbased on a predetermined pager signal received by said pager signalreception means.
 23. The wireless communication system according toclaim 22, characterized in that said host station has a plurality ofradio signal transmission/reception means for performingtransmission/reception of a radio signal using said wireless telephoneline and receiving a radio signal originated from said wirelesscommunication means of said master communication device or said wirelesscommunication means of said each slave communication device to performlocation registration.